Process or My Thoughts for This Quilt

I am going to do this Process Piece so I can get the hang of doing it like this.  Most of my stuff is Just-Off-The-Cuff-Improvisational and Go-Where-The-Wind-Takes-Me process.  So I am thinking I had better practice for the really big important stuff later on so they don't kick me out or ridicule me.  I so hate that.

Ok.......

The Why?  I was sitting at Lake Sherwood Retirement Village with my mom on Best Friend's Day.  I figured I was the best friend she had going so I had better be there.  And while we were singing My Wild Irish Rose and Put on Your Best Grey Bonnet over tea cakes and punch, I noticed the worker ladies gathering up some baskets of give-aways.  After the singing was over they began to announce winners of various categories, like:  the longest friendship, the oldest person there (which I figured was not a viable category because the same lady keeps winning every time and someone may try to knock her off to get to that easy win spot), and some others I can't remember.  I thought, hey, I can make some scrap quilts from that bag that  grows ever larger and donate some prize quilts! Yeah!

The What Of?  I have this large Target bag that seems to be collecting all the leftover pieces that are too big to throw away and too little to use.  And I saw a really cool pattern in one of the new quilt mags that used the Chinese Coin idea and made large blocks.  Perfect.  Not a lot of thought and fairly quick and best of all, uses up a lot of scraps.  Which I somehow have an abundance of.........

The Prep:  I sorted out a lot of piles from that Target bag.  I sorted not by width of the strip but by the length of the strip.  Some pieces are around 9 inches then there is the 7 inch pile.  The third pile is the scraps that can be sewn together to make either a 7 or a 9 inch strip.  And ultimately I did have to force myself to toss some pieces that would have been way too much trouble to put into the strip or put with other strips to make a usable strip.  And to prove to you that I CAN indeed toss something, here it is......for now.

The How:  After I had a huge pile of strips, I began to sew them together.  I really didn't worry about what colors were next to what colors but I did make sure that no two of the same fabrics were next to each other.  I found it easiest to chain piece three groups, then to piece the three groups together to make a long strip.  That way I was not working with excess fabric too much.  This went pretty quickly and by 10:30 last night I had three sections completed.  I had thought to only have three sections, but I think I need a fourth.  So I will do that in a minute.

The Trim:  After I had four sections completed I evened out the edge with a long ruler.  I am thinking that when I get it all together I may put some large orange rick rack down the center between the coin strips.  And that I will use muslin between the coin columns.

The Assembly:   I took the four strips and added that super muslin ( I love that stuff from Hobby Lobby) to the betweens and the edges for borders.  I made them the width of my 6 1/2 inch ruler just for the ease of it.  I dug deep into my stash for a backing piece and rustled up some batting from my mom's stuff.  Polyester, I hate polyester batting.  I have just been using flannel that has been washed twice to shrink as much as potentially possible.  I then quilted it with a large meandering.  Now I am contemplating adding some huge orange rick rack

Still working on copy and photos, a work in progress here.  I guess people do this by creating a document and completing it THEN posting the entirety to the blog......see I am learning!

glen